of the emphatic condemnation of the Church.

Origen (A. D. 186-253), a native of Alexandria, wrote that in his time
it was customary for a person ailing from any cause to write certain
characters on paper or metal, and fasten the amulet, thus improvised,
upon the part of the body affected.[7:1] Passages from the books of the
Gospel (literally "good spell") were especial favorites as such
preservatives; they were usually inscribed on parchment, and were even
placed upon horses.[7:2] Amulets were also employed to propitiate the
goddess Fortune, and to thwart her evil designs. So insistent was the
belief in the virtues of these objects, and to such a pitch of credulity
did the popular mind attain, that special charms in great variety were
devised against particular diseases, as well as against misfortunes and
evil of whatever kind.[7:3]

Medieval astrology was a chief factor in promoting the use of amulets.
Magic lent its aid to such an extent that, in certain lands, a chief
part of Medicine consisted in the selection of suitable amulets against
disease, and in their preparation.[7:4]

The almost universal dependence upon amulets, as prophylactics or
healing agencies, originated through popular ignorance and fear.

With the advent of Christianity, many former superstitious beliefs were
abandoned. Yet the process was very gradual.

The newest converts from paganism, while renouncing the forms which they
had of necessity abjured, were disposed to attribute to Christian
symbols some of the virtues which they had believed to inhere in heathen
emblems and tokens.[8:1] The amulets and charms used by prehistoric man
were silent appeals for protection against the powers of evil, the
hostile forces which environed him.[8:2]

The doctrines of the Gnostics have been held by some writers to be
responsible for the introduction of many amulets and charms in the early
centuries of this era. Notwithstanding the fact (says Edward Berdoe in
his "Origin of the Art of Healing") that the spirit of Christianity in
its early day was strenuously opposed to all magical and superstitious
practices, the nations which it subdued to the faith in Christ were so
wedded to their former customs that they could not be entirely divorced
from them. Thus, in the case of amulets, it was found necessary to
substitute Christian words and tokens for their heathen counterparts.

Amulets and charms were much in vogue in ancient Egypt, and so great was
the tr